Savage Satisfaction (6 page)

“How did you do that?” William demanded. In response the
wolf darted into the forest.

After a few more heart-attack-inducing surprises, William
learned to spot the clues—a leaf that shook, a chattering squirrel—and caught
Christoffer twice.

“Bang!” he yelled, childlike in his enthusiasm. The wolf,
head low in shame, crept from the bushes. “Haha!” William yelled. The adrenaline
of their game made him feel light and powerful.

The wolf lifted his nose. His jaws parted and his tongue
lolled out, nearly doglike. There was human intelligence in his eyes, and
William fancied that Christoffer was enjoying himself too.

The wolf jerked his head toward the forest. William raised
his brows. Christoffer repeated the action.

“Well, Lassie?” he asked, exasperated. Christoffer growled.
He jerked his head toward the forest, ran a few steps, then came back and
looked at William expectantly.

“You want to show me something?”

The wolf shook his head.

“You want me to follow you?”

He nodded.

William climbed down the tree, dropping the last meter. He
wasn’t afraid, though he wondered whether maybe he should have been.

Christoffer nudged him forward, then took the lead. They
started off walking. William would have sworn there was no path through this
part of the forest, but the route they took was clear.

The wolf kept looking back at William, who raised his brows
in question. Christoffer picked up the pace in response—trotting along on
silent paws. William matched his pace, jogging gently behind him.

The pace quickened, and then again, until they were tearing
through the forest. Christoffer brought them to an open space where they could
run side by side.

Air whipped past William’s face, filling his head with the
scents of the forest. The sunlight beat down on him. His legs pumped, arms
swung and chest heaved as he pushed himself to run, run.

The wolf,
his
wolf was there at his side—partner,
protector. He could imagine he was a wolf too, running arrogantly, happily
through a world that was his for the taking.

William had never felt so alive.

A fox dashed across their path but they ignored it. Now was
not the hunt, now was the time to run.

William threw back his head and let out a great shout of
triumph. This was his forest. Beside him the wolf howled. The forest quaked in
fear.

They reached the far side of the clearing and had to slow.
William was near the end of his endurance and he paused to catch his breath. He
regretted he did not have the strength to run like that forever.

The wolf disappeared only to reappear as a naked man.

There was wildness in Christoffer’s eyes, and William
wondered if that’s what he looked like—raw and natural.

Christoffer wrapped his arms around William, bringing them
chest to chest, groin to groin, and kissed him.

* * * * *

It was glorious to run with his Alpha. The pleasure of being
in the forest, the silliness of their game, had lightened Christoffer’s heavy
heart. There was nothing—not even sex—better than a beautiful forest on a sunny
day. He’d watched William up in that tree and thought how sad it was that he
was there, removed from the wonder of the woods.

So he’d coaxed him down, led him through the woods, then run
with him. They’d run side by side, and Christoffer hoped that William could
feel the forest as he did, despite the lord’s limited body.

He was filled with joy. As a human he would have had to find
a more masculine way of saying it, but as a wolf it was joy. He was free to run
but safe in the company of his Alpha. He was valued, for he was his Alpha’s
protector.

He slipped into the woods, changing quickly from wolf to
human.

William was standing in a pool of shadow, his salt-and-pepper
hair slicked to his temples with sweat. His eyes were bright.

Christoffer wanted him.

So he kissed him.

William was stiff in his arms, rigid with shock. His lips
were salty with sweat. Christoffer opened his mouth, licking the seam of
William’s.

William’s hand fisted in Christoffer’s hair and jerked him
back.

“What are you doing?”

“Claiming my kiss,” Christoffer said.

William flung him away. “I don’t fuck other men.”

Christoffer’s heart shriveled. “You don’t know what you’re
missing.” He tried to laugh, but the sound came out bitter and he feared his
feelings showed on his face.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t like men.” William’s voice was soft
with pity.

Christoffer didn’t want his pity. “Liar. I can see your
goddamned hard-on from here. Homophobic asshole.”

William looked down at the front of his trousers as if he
were surprised by what he saw. Maybe he was surprised. “I-I—” he stammered. He
looked up and Christoffer saw shock and confusion on his face.

Christoffer grabbed him again, pulling him in for a kiss.
His hands went to William’s cheeks, but he’d forgotten William’s injury until
he yelled in pain and again fisted his hand in Christoffer’s hair, jerking him
back.

But this time he didn’t let go.

He drove Christoffer to his knees. “Do you want me?” William
growled.

“Yes,” Christoffer said. William’s grip on his hair was
tight, commanding.

“Show me.” With his free hand, William lowered the zipper of
his pants.

Christoffer couldn’t believe this was happening. Maybe he
was dreaming. If that was the case, he wanted to make sure he experienced it
all before waking.

Christoffer reached trembling hands into the open zipper.
Slipping his fingers into the fly of William’s boxers, he touched springy hair
and smooth, hard skin. He drew out William’s cock.

William was uncut and wide. Just the way Christoffer liked
them.

Usually Christoffer was the one standing while some pretty
boy serviced him. He was a top almost exclusively, but in this situation there
was no denying who was dominant.

He stroked William’s cock, starting with the balls, still
concealed within his pants, then along the length to the tip, which had a
single dollop of pre-cum on it.

Christoffer blew on the tip, his eyes on William’s face.
He’d half expected the other man to be looking away. Fake straights often
looked away, not wanting to confront what they were doing, but William was
staring down at him.

Christoffer licked the tip of William’s cock.

They both shuddered.

Christoffer kissed and sucked the very tip, wanting him
wild, wanting him desperate to fuck his face. When Christoffer tried raking
William’s cock very gently with his teeth, the other man let out a shout and
forced his cock into Christoffer’s mouth.

William’s cock pushed Christoffer’s tongue back and
pressured his jaws apart. He clamped his lips around the cock, his nose pressed
into the open fly of William’s pants, and sucked hard.

William let out another cry and took Christoffer’s head in
both hands, guiding it up and down his cock. Christoffer bobbed his head with
William’s guidance until the rhythm was too fast. William was fucking his cock
in and out of Christoffer’s mouth as Christoffer gripped his ass.

This felt right, it felt good. The high from the run still
thrummed through Christoffer’s veins, mingling with his arousal. He took one
hand from William’s ass and wrapped it around his own cock, jerking in time to
William’s thrusts.

William slammed in one last time, shouting as he came.
Christoffer swallowed and swallowed again. The other man’s orgasm triggered his
own and Christoffer came, his sperm shooting from his cock to hit William’s
legs.

William pulled his shaft from Christoffer’s mouth and sank
to his knees. Christoffer wiped his hand on some leaves as he opened and closed
his mouth. His jaw hurt.

William was staring at him, face a hard, cold mask. Finally
he said, “We should go. Change back, I did not ask you to return to human.”

Christoffer bowed his head. Shame, a too familiar sensation,
washed over him. It had been a beautiful moment. Had been.

He was happy to change to wolf as William zipped his pants.
Christoffer led the way back to the hunting platform. William commanded him to
change into a human once there and, while Christoffer still knelt on the forest
floor, William slipped the collar around his neck.

He was still a prisoner and now, whatever bond he’d formed
with William was probably gone. He dressed silently. He felt dirty and used.
Foolish and betrayed.

Don’t. You can’t hate this man, he’s your Alpha.

They returned to the pen, where William locked Christoffer
in without another word.

He paced the cell, looking like what he was—a caged animal.

Mirela watched Christoffer march, his head low, arms
hanging. She’d expected him to return laughing and smiling—he’d been allowed
outside—but he hadn’t returned in triumph.

Something had gone wrong.

She wanted to ask but she was afraid she’d say something to
make it worse. Since coming here almost nothing she did or said was right.

It was the collar. She traced its now familiar pattern with
her fingertips. How she hated it. The presence of the collar made her anxious.
She knew that if she could just get it off she would do or say the right things
and then the lord wouldn’t be angry at her.

Every time she saw his bandaged face she wanted to throw up.
Had there been more space for her to fly she would not have missed and he would
now be lacking a right eye.

She never did anything right but the wolf, it seemed, could
do no wrong.

Late into the night, after Lord William had locked
Christoffer in again, they would sit up talking. At first Mirela had stayed
awake, sitting in the corner of her cage to be close to them, but they so
pointedly ignored her she’d given that up. Once she curled up on her cot away
from them and let her breathing even out as though sleeping, they would talk
much more freely.

The camaraderie between men she understood, and after she
worked out “cricket” meant a game and not a bug she’d been much less confused.

But the way they spoke to each other was puzzling. Their
voices would soften from the guffawing bass of men to low tones ripe with
feeling. After they talked about sports they would begin to speak of travel and
places they loved, after that music and food.

Was Lord William like Christoffer in that he wanted to have
sex with other men?

The idea disturbed Mirela but it was several days before she
really understood why.

She was jealous. Not only because Christoffer was allowed
out of his cage, but because he was receiving time and attention from Lord
William. Attention she wanted for herself, and not just because she was bored
or wanted out.

She wanted William the way a woman wanted a man. Or the way
a man wanted a man, if Christoffer was to be believed.

She’d been attracted to him when she first saw him—he was
wealthy, older and powerful, all things she valued in a man upon whom the rest
of her life would depend. She’d grown more attracted to him when he protected
her from the wolf the first day, and the few touches she’d received made pleasure
curl in her belly.

When Christoffer had mentioned William’s attraction to her,
the idea had planted itself in her mind and started to grow. By the time he let
her out that fateful day, part of her had accepted, and wanted, William to have
sex with her.

But the longings of the woman were secondary to that of the
falcon, and she’d acted to free the falcon rather than find favor as a woman.

Christoffer stopped pacing for a moment and touched his
hands to his lips. Spinning on his heel, he darted into the bathroom. She heard
water running, a thump and then the sound of his retching. She ran for the
bathroom, pulling her door open.

“Are you ill?” she asked. His hair dangled in front of his
eyes and she scooped it back, rubbing his back with her other hand.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” he said, voice echoing against the
inside of the toilet bowl. He reached for the handle, forgetting it dangled
from the overhead tank high above their heads. Mirela stood and flushed it for
him, then handed him a wad of toilet paper.

Christoffer wiped his mouth and then threw the paper in the
bowl before washing his hands.

“Why are you an idiot?” she asked quietly.

“Don’t ever fuck straight guys,” he said, leaning his
forehead against the bar-coated wall.

“Uh, who else would I fuck?”

He barked out a laugh and scrubbed his damp hands over his
face and neck. “You’re right. You should fuck straight guys. I shouldn’t.”

What he was saying finally penetrated and Mirela gasped.
“You had sex with Lord William?”

“No. Well, define sex.”

“Define it? Sex is sex.”

“Says the virgin.”

“What did you do?”

Christoffer looked at her, shrugged and left the bathroom.
With a humph she followed him. Though the dual bathroom doors meant they could
move back and forth between each other’s cages, they had not. Mirela knew she
wouldn’t have been welcome, and it was clear Christoffer had no wish to come to
her.

He made a noise of disgust when he saw she’d followed him.
“Get out.”

“No. Tell me what you did.”

“I was the one who got done.”

It was so annoying that she never knew what he was talking
about. “Explain.”

“You don’t want to hear this.”

“I do!”

“Really?” Christoffer whirled on her.

Mirela backed up until she hit bars.

Christoffer loomed over her. “I had oral sex with him. Know
what that means?” he hissed at her, his face twisted in a mean grimace.

She shook her head, scared.

“It means that I knelt down and he put his cock in my mouth
and he fucked my mouth until he came. He came in my mouth and I swallowed it.”

Mirela blinked. “That works?”

He groaned and leaned his head into the bars. It brought his
chest close to her and he smelled very good. She took another deep breath and
his smell caused the same curl of pleasure in her belly that William’s touch
had.

“You’re very innocent.”

“I’m learning. You’re an ass.”

He laughed, a real one this time and, quite unexpectedly,
hugged her. His arms were muscled and strong. Mirela leaned her head against
his shoulder and closed her eyes.

His laughter faded as she wrapped her arms around him.

They stood that way, just holding each other, for a long
time. She wondered what he was thinking. Her leg muscles were fluttering and
her face felt flushed.

“Mirela.” He groaned, tipping her face up with his hand. She
looked up into blue eyes. His hair was in front of his face again and she
pushed it away.

“You smell very good,” she said, “and I like the way it
feels when you hold me.”

“No.” He pushed her away. “Have you been listening? I just
had sex with Lord William.”

“I thought you liked other men,” she said, confused. Had he
been unwilling? Had William forced him? She thought rape was something that
only happened to women who were too bold and strayed too far from their
families, but until a few days ago she hadn’t really known men could like other
men.

“I do.”

“So it was not rape?’

“Rape? Jesus. No. Why would you think that?”

“You’re upset. You threw up.”

“I’m upset because after it was over William threw me back
in here. He pretended like it never happened.”

“Oh, you hoped he wouldn’t put you back in the cage if you
had sex with him?”

“No!” Christoffer resumed his pacing. Their roles had
switched and now it was Mirela who was calm and asking questions while
Christoffer struggled. “I don’t care that I’m in here, I don’t.”

He’s lying.

“I didn’t do it to get something. I did it because I wanted
to. I wanted him. We went running. I led him through the forest and when we hit
a field we ran side by side. I was full of,” he grimaced before spitting out,
“joy. I was in the forest, running with my Alpha. When we stopped I was full of
so many things I just…wanted to be with him.” Christoffer pounded his fists on
his thighs. “I changed and kissed him. He pulled me away but then he pushed me
to my knees. I would have settled for the kiss. He initiated the oral sex. I
liked it, no, I loved it. I was there, on my knees before my Alpha, muscles
still hot from the run, and he wanted to be close to me, valued me, trusted me.
But when it was over…”

Christoffer shook his head. “He pretended like it never
happened. He closed himself away from me.”

“Why would he do that?” Mirela asked, seating herself on his
cot.

“Because he doesn’t like other men.”

“But he must if he had sex with you.”

“Maybe deep down he does, but he doesn’t want to admit it.
Maybe he doesn’t and it was just the power of the run.”

Mirela nodded in understanding. There were times that her
feelings after flying seemed too big to be contained within her body. The few
times she did think about boys were usually while the pleasure-high of flight
was still in her.

“Either way, it’s the oldest story in the world.”
Christoffer sat down beside her and draped a companionable arm over her
shoulders. “Bi boy meets hot older straight man. Gives oral sex to straight
man. Straight man pretends it didn’t happen and treats bi boy like crap to make
himself feel better.”

It was a lie to say she fully understood, but Mirela could
hear his suffering. “I’m sorry he treated you that way.” She wrapped her arm
around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder, some instinct telling her
he needed the comfort of touch.

“Thanks,” he said, tipping his head to rest his cheek on her
hair.

They stayed that way until the door opened.

William gritted his jaw in an effort to keep his face
neutral as he opened the door. He deliberately focused his gaze on Mirela’s
cage, only to find it empty. He had a moment’s panic before she rushed out of
the bathroom.

She looked him up and down, glared and turned her back on
him.

That was unexpected.

He looked to Christoffer, who was seated on his cot, head in
his hands, staring at the floor. Gone was the smiling boy who jumped up at his
entrance, always ready with a joke or inappropriate comment.

Guilt hit him hard and fast.

He’d spent the afternoon not thinking about what he’d done.
He read
The Independent
and
The Times
, only to have to put them
down when the sports section reminded him of Christoffer. He watched some TV,
disgusted when all he could find was reruns of
Neighbors
.

He both wanted to come to the pen and dreaded it. He both
needed to see Christoffer and wished he never had.

He was an undeniably straight man—he was a Peer of the Realm,
for God’s sake.

Yet he’d had oral sex with another man—and it had been
amazing. What they’d done together—the forest, the run, the sex, was all rolled
up into a set of sensations that made William feel more alive than he had in
years. The moment he’d closed himself off from Christoffer and seen the light
of pleasure die from the younger man’s eyes he’d felt as though he’d aged
twenty years.

Was he ashamed of what he’d done? Undeniably. But he wanted
to do it again.

As he walked from the house, dinner in a bag over his
shoulder, William couldn’t help but wonder if he
was
gay. Nothing and no
one until Christoffer had made him question that he was straight.

He didn’t find other men attractive, didn’t look at them
with any sexual interest. Some late-night BBC docudramas had taught him that he
didn’t find gay pornography appealing.

But with Christoffer it was different. He didn’t have any
answers when he reached the pen.

“I have dinner.” He slid the bag from his shoulder. The
words hung in the air, awkward and too loud.

“You hurt him,” Mirela said, stepping up to the bars of her
cage. Her hair was back over her shoulders, her body on full display. William
couldn’t help but look at her breasts, the curls over her sex, and his cock
leapt.

What was wrong with him?

“Mirela, don’t,” Christoffer said without looking up. “It’s
not worth it.”

“It is. He should not have done that,” she said, looking at
William.

“You told her?” William felt a blush rise to his cheeks,
followed by anger. He didn’t want Christoffer to undermine his relationship
with Mirela by telling him what went on between them. He didn’t want to appear
weak in front of her, and that’s what being gay would make him, weak.

“She dug it out of me,” Christoffer said.

“You should apologize,” Mirela said. “You’ve hurt him.”

“What I do with Christoffer is none of your concern” he said,
trying to stare her down.

“Leave it,” Christoffer told her. “You have your own
problems with him. Don’t get involved in this mess.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” she asked, turning to address
Christoffer. She jerked her head at William. “He will never let me out again,
and will forever hate me. You’re usually angry with me for saying something
stupid, but you’re nicer to me than he is. I want someone to like me and be my
friend. I do not want to spend the rest of my life in this cage with no one to
talk to.”

Her voice warbled on the last sentence but she didn’t cry.
She did pull her hair forward to cover her breasts.

“Ahh, Mirela,” Christoffer said, standing. “Please don’t
cry.”

“I won’t. I know it will make you angry and then you’ll be
mean to me.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Christoffer said. There were
lines etched in his face that weren’t there when he was smiling.

Christoffer went into the bathroom and emerged into Mirela’s
cage. William jerked in surprise. That wasn’t supposed to be possible. He’d
designed the bathroom so that a series of chains and pulleys kept the doors
from being opened simultaneously. Clearly that hadn’t worked.

“Out of her cage,” he ordered Christoffer. They ignored him.

The plan was falling apart again. He needed to separate
them. He’d thought this camaraderie between them gone after the attack, but
clearly what had happened today rekindled it.

They could not form an alliance. It was only the bars that
kept them in line, and together they were too powerful for him.

“Christoffer,” he ordered, “return to your cage.”

Christoffer’s head jerked up. His gritted teeth showed
between lips that were pulled back in a snarl. He released Mirela and headed
for the bathroom.